Sluggish global IT market hits campus placements in engineering colleges

Updated on: Monday, November 26, 2012

Sluggishness in the IT market across the globe has hit campus placements in engineering colleges this year, and hiring may come down by nearly 40 per cent if the placement trends are to be believed.

Except the university colleges and a few top colleges in the State, placements are yet to begin in other colleges and the response is not encouraging when the placement officers approach the company. The gloomy scene can be understood from the fact that students, who passed out in 2012 are yet to get their joining dates as companies are in the process of extending joining letters to the 2011 pass-outs.

However, core companies that recruit in limited numbers are able to honour their offer letters, and the problem is severe in the IT companies. “Hiring may come down by nearly 40 per cent. Tier-two colleges will take the hit,” feels V. Uma Maheshwar Rao, Placement Officer, Osmania University College of Engineering (OUCE). Companies visiting the colleges have drastically reduced apart from the offers given by those visiting.

“I am struggling to convince the companies for a visit. Those who agree are also not promising good numbers,” agreed A. Sree Lakshmi, Training and Placement Officer (TPO) of Vignana Bharathi Institute of Technology (VBIT). The TPOs of two-tier colleges and middle-level institutions are unable to get even such positive response, and they are under tremendous pressure from students and parents apart from college managements.

The IT industries association of the State (ITsAP) also agrees that hiring is sluggish. Brig. K. Hari Kumar, Executive Director of ITsAP says everyone is constrained to reduce the intake due to slowdown effect across the globe. “Companies are visiting some campuses, but are not hiring in big numbers,” he says. Even the BPO market has been hit, more so the third party BPO sector. So the numbers are bound to be less.

Top colleges such as the OUCE are in a comfortable position as they are the first choice for top as well as middle-level companies.

For example, in the first phase of placements held at OUCE, about 347 students have been placed. Maruti, Infosys, Wipro, Oracle, Cognizant and Delloitte have picked up and students are waiting for the second phase to begin after their semester exams next month. Top companies visit top colleges irrespective of need as they don’t want to lose good candidates to other big players.

Prof. Uma Maheshwar reminds that IT companies plan a year in advance, so they give offers letters first and the joining dates after a few months. This year the process has been delayed by a few months compared to 2011 pass-outs. Companies are uncertain about the future business and they don’t want to wait.

What do final year students do now? Prof. Uma Maheshwar advices them to concentrate on the preparation of GATE exam. “This will help them gain admission in top M.Tech courses apart from a decent job in the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).” The PSUs, who are recruiting in good numbers, have decided to use GATE scores for their selections.

Sluggish global IT market hits campus placements in engineering colleges

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